Elizabeth Cleghorn GaskellElizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865) was a prominent English novelist and short story writer of the Victorian era. Closely associated with the industrial city of Manchester, she is best known for novels such as North and South, Cranford, and Wives and Daughers. Gaskell's fiction is distinguished by its psychological sensitivity, moral seriousness, and careful attention to social conditions. Her work occupies a central place in the tradition of nineteenth-century English social realism. Read More Read Less